Just One Touch
by ronko45
Summary: " These boys only needed Something simple and sweet: Just one touch would have been enough to have them end their disastrous feats… " [Ch. 1 Poetry] What if someone had helped them understand the error of their ways? What if someone stopped their clouded minds since early one? All it takes is one touch to help these boys see more to life that what it is they already see.
1. Chapter 1

I saw a 'Hug Me' shirt… and behold the idea of 'Just one touch' and that that could have changed the outcome of these particular guys if they had someone to actually care for them.

I own this poem.

Chapter 1: Just One Touch

-X-

-You look at them,

And the first thing you see

Are little boys with no family.

-They have been alone

In their own eyes…

Never once turning to see those beside.

-They are all loners;

They are all unique;

They are all connected by something really deep.

-They lost their family

In very horrid ways,

So this is why they've become this way.

-Gaara will be first,

Second is Sasuke, the Uchiha man,

While lastly will be Neji of the Hyuga clan…

-These boys only needed

Something simple and sweet:

Just one touch would have been enough to have them end their disastrous feats…

-X-

A/N: This was a short poem that I came up with on the fly about the three different one-shots that I am making for them. It is also titled Just One Touch…


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing; I still love Gaara though!

Chapter 2: Gaara and Yashamaru

-X-

Gaara looked out at the dark village, clutching the teddy bear in his hands tightly. The sand blew around him ominously, almost as if he was controlling it, but he wasn't… at least not now he wasn't. Gaara watched as the villagers walked passed him with spite, nobody even going up to the little boy with the sad, emotionless face for fear of his power. They all knew who he was, and what had happened to him, and for that reason he was shunned. For that reason he was attacked continuously… attacked and harassed, called names a child of his age should never be subjected too.

He remembered the first time he had been attacked. The man was definitely drinking, the alcohol strong on his body as if he had been swimming in the beverage. He was drunk, so much so that he attacked Gaara without provocation. Gaara had only been born and then had the bijuu implanted inside of him… He wasn't even old enough to understand _why_ people had been treating him so badly when he was only the host of such an extraordinary power! Weren't people supposed to get to know someone first before they hated them? When the man threw the beer on him, he only started to cry. Why wouldn't he, he was still just a young boy. Next came the shards of the broken glass as the man continually cursed him out. It was becoming a dangerous, unstable situation. Gaara was crying incessantly, telling the man to stop, while the man had not heeded his warnings.

Gaara finally had enough. The sand around the man started to move, flying around as erratically as Gaara was crying. He stopped short, crying for his life as he ran for his life. He knew who Gaara was, and he knew of Shukaku that lived within the boy. The sand chased after the man, encircling him and bringing up in the air. The man's scream was heard, of course, because people were secretly watching. Though no one stopped to help him, or help Gaara when he was in trouble. The sand grew denser, and the pressure on the man's body increased. In a matter of moments, blood rained down, darkening the already dark sand below them. The villagers had all ran away from the scene, leaving a crying Gaara walking back in the dead of the night. Most likely tonight no one would attack him, but that wasn't guaranteed. People would attack him again… they always did.

It wasn't too long that afterward, Gaara started to embrace the hate and the fear that the village presented to him. He didn't want to, but one could only take so much terrorizing before they finally cracked. If people wanted to be afraid of him, he let them. He didn't care anymore, especially since the only person whom he had opened up to was dead. He was betrayed by him, and that was when he let go of all that that man had taught him. He didn't care about love; he didn't believe it existed. He wouldn't care that the only person that could actually make him smile had died, trying to kill him because everything he spewed about love and camaraderie was a lie.

-O-

Gaara sat at the window in the dead of the night, watching the stars overhead. He had just come back home, blood lining his clothes and his face. Those people had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Too bad for them, thought Gaara, not that he cared about whether they deserved to be killed or not.

Behind him, watching with both caution and sadness for their little brother were Temari and Kankuro. They loved their brother, they truly did, but even he didn't care what happened to them. They kept him in line, but only when _he_ wanted to be kept in control. Gaara was so unstable that they just didn't know what to do, but they would never do anything to hurt him.

They had, ever since he was young, loved him, but it wasn't enough to him possibly. Most likely it was because they had been separated. He had to learn to deal with the beast inside of him, while they were taught how to control it if it ever was released unintentionally. Maybe it was true they didn't spend enough time with him, but that only made them want to care for their younger brother even more. Things would change today thought Temari. She wanted him to be happy because when she saw him sad, they were also sad. Said boy looked back, an evil glare in his eyes that made both her and Kankuro take a step back.

"Go on Temari… you are older…" spoke Kankuro.

"I will. This behavior will only be his downfall in the end." As Temari started to walk, she felt a warm light take over her body. She heard a voice.

'I need to take over for a moment Temari.' She knew that voice.

'Uncle…' She felt him smile and things went black as the man took over.

The man walked over to Gaara sitting over at the window. Gaara glared at his 'sister' for a moment, daring her to come near him. She did and he stiffened. Temari pulled a chair and sat next to Gaara.

"Gaara… it's been so long… you have grown so much…"

"Get away from me," said Gaara eying her menacingly. Although he disregarded his family, he knew they were there. He spoke again when she didn't move, a deep, low voice. "Temari, I will not tell you again…"

Temari smiled and Gaara was taken aback. "Remember what I talked to you about years ago? It's the emotional scars that are the hardest to heal, remember?" Gaara looked at Temari, his mouth disbelieving.

"How… how do you know about that?"

"I told you about it." The man possessing Temari laughed, rubbing his neck just like was normal to him.

"Yashamaru…" said Gaara, looking at his sister with disbelief. The shock and awe was soon replaced by anger, and sadness, and his sand was expelled, surrounding the girl. "Why the HELL did you come back?! You betrayed me, and you think I will let you talk to me like this?!"

"Gaara, please calm down. This is your sister's body, you don't want to hurt her do you?" he laughed.

"I could care less. Mankind is only here for me to destroy, and if she gets in my way then she can go to. I can love no one but myself…"

"Gaara, how did you turn out like this…" whispered Yashamaru.

"Why?! Because of people like you! You all had the same hateful eyes. No matter what I tried to do to get a friend, to make someone not hate me…" Gaara closed his eyes, reminiscing about the malice filled times he had in the Sand. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see Yashamaru's eyes. They were sad and regretful… but why? Gaara made the sand rage even more, actually grabbing Temari's body.

"Gaara stop!" yelled Kankuro trying to get her out of harm's way, but she told him to stop.

"But…"

Yashamaru looked away from his nephew and looked at Gaara. "Gaara I am sorry. I am not going to go into details as to why I had to do what I did, but I want you to know that I did love you. You were my sister's child and even though I wanted to hate you… I just couldn't." The sand had loosened, Yashamaru felt, and he took that as a chance to walk towards Gaara. "You were so much like her, my sister, that I couldn't hate you. Overtime I wanted to care for you and make you smile. You had a hard life and I only made it worse when I tried to kill you, but I truly did love you Gaara." Gaara had faltered for a moment and Yashamaru took that as a chance to step up to his nephew. Yashamaru extended his arms and took Gaara into a tight embrace. "I should've done this earlier, Gaara; I am sorry."

The sand had frozen, falling to the ground as the boy felt the warmth and the truth in his uncle's hug. He started to cry, almost like he was back in the past where the only person who he had thought cared about him was this man, his uncle. Tears fell like waterworks now as Gaara realized what he had done. He hadn't done anything about the emotional scars he had, like Yashamaru had said, there was only one way to heal those wounds and that was by love.

Gaara had held onto Yashamaru, feeling a pang of guilt for hating him for all these years. What had he been doing all these years with his hatred? Yashamaru lifted himself from Temari's body, encompassing the whole house in a warm embrace. Temari awoke on Gaara's shoulder, and she quickly pulled away, apologizing for being on him. Gaara looked at her.

"It's okay Temari."

"Temari?" asked Kankuro with worry.

"Kankuro, what happened?"

"Well I think whatever Uncle did worked." They both looked at their brother. Though he was still covered in blood from his earlier night's activities, he had a different air to him. His eyes had changed and they could tell from the difference in his eyes.

It wasn't the child's fault that he had grown up in a world that had only showed him hatred. All he needed was a little love. Just one touch would have been enough to stop him a long time ago…

-X-

A/N: I chose Yashamaru because I feel that he actually loved Gaara even if he did try kill him, and I don't know if that one chapter (the later one where Gaara was told everything by his dad after he was reincarnated) that Yasha actually regretted what he did, but I took it as so, so I made this.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Naruto, especially Sasuke and Sakura… because trust me, the clan would be revived already… ;)

Chapter 3: Sasuke and Sakura.

-X-

Sasuke crouched low in the brush, waiting for the best moment to attack the man. He was standing in the middle of the field, a few trees scattered behind him, but overall, he was an open target; he hadn't even been paying attention to what was going on around him. His eyes were locked in a book, and Sasuke waited until after Naruto, his teammate, had attacked before he went himself.

The goal of the exercise was to get a bell from Kakashi-sensei, and that was a feat easier said than done. There were only two bells and three teammates, and by the way things were going, neither of them were going to beat the time limit set by the teacher. Sasuke took his chance in the open field to attack their sensei. Kakashi hadn't even needed to look up from his book; he threw Sasuke onto the floor, Sasuke standing up quickly with a kunai in his hand ready to defend against an imminent attack… only there was nobody with him. He looked around, cautiously sensing every area around him for any sign of Kakashi, but by the time he found where the older man was, he was already caught in the jutsu. Kakashi grabbed Sasuke by the ankle, bringing him under the ground to where he originally was. Sasuke watched, his head above the ground, as Kakashi walked away from him, reading his book.

Sasuke cursed at himself, fighting underneath the ground to break free of the dirt's hold on him. How could he let himself get caught in such a bind! If this was the extent of his power and skills, then there was no way he could ever hope to defeat his brother. Sasuke grew still thinking about the very reason he hated his brother, and why his own flesh and blood would be killed by his hands. As he was thinking this, Sakura had passed by him and was shocked so much she fainted. Sasuke wriggled himself out of the ground and hovered over Sakura until she woke up.

Sakura awoke with a fervor, grabbing Sasuke after realizing he was okay. He shook her off gently, complaining that she was hurting him. Too much time had been lost, Sasuke realized, from getting himself caught up on waiting on Sakura; he was pretty sure time was just about to run out. Sasuke stepped away from the kunoichi, heading toward Kakashi. He stopped a few steps ahead after Sakura had spoken. She wanted to know why he was fighting so hard to get the bells, to complete the challenge. He looked back at her, the wind blowing about them ominously. Should he tell her? He did; he told her about his goal, about the certain person he needed to defeat. Sakura was dumbfounded. Sasuke had told her about something that she had no idea how to handle. How could she console Sasuke about his only brother killing his clan? She didn't know how, so she kept quiet as she watched the boy go back to Kakashi, testing his abilities to retrieve but a simple bell.

-O-

Sasuke ran after the man, cursing loudly as the black cloud of crows encircled his brother. By the time Sasuke had made it to the spot, Itachi was already gone. Sasuke was enraged, and even the giant hole he had made in the hotel wall wasn't enough to compensate for its full scale.

Sakura stood outside, watching with a sad look, Sasuke punch the wall. She stepped into the hallway, cautiously, calling out for her teammate. "Sasuke..." she spoke, a mere whisper in the silent hall. The boy turned to her, an angry look across his visage, but that did not deter her. She was going talk to Sasuke even if he didn't want to. She knew there was only one way for this boy to communicate to her, and she was ready to take all the pain that was associated with it. "Sasuke, its okay..."

Sakura knew that all of this couldn't have been avoided, but try she still did to keep Sasuke from meeting his brother. She had heard rumors about Itachi when she was working around Tsunade, but even when she actually got Sasuke to say yes to a trip to this small village for some items required by Tsunade, all still went awry. Sasuke overheard a fisherman talk about two men with black robes, and the one man had "red eyes". Both Sasuke and Sakura perked their ears up after hearing this, and Sakura tried to get Sasuke to leave, but he ran ahead. By the time she had reached him he was on the ground running to Itachi who disappeared right before his eyes. The look that Sasuke had on his face scared her, but she knew if he wasn't consoled, then he would let the weakness eat at him until the end of Itachi, and though she did not doubt the Uchiha's power, defeating Itachi in his current state, was unspoken.

Sakura stepped up to Sasuke already in a sparring stance; she looked at the boy's confused face and spoke to him. "You don't have the power now..." she said. The moment she started to speak, Sasuke let loose... just like she knew he would.

"What do you know?" yelled Sasuke loudly, "If you had let me go earlier..." He clenched his hands, throwing a fist at her. The fight had begun, and if she truly wanted to get into the Uchiha's blackened heart, she would need to beat some sense into him, at least some sense. She dodged the heavy punch and jumped forward enough to throw her own mega-punch. It was filled with chakra and it was something that Tsunade had first taught her. Sasuke had only been fazed for a few seconds before he stopped her hand and grabbed her closer. She looked into his eyes, kicking him. He dropped her, and she jumped a few feet back before running forward with a kunai. Sasuke looked at her incredulously. She was not really going to attack him was she? He thought, as the kunoichi reached him. Her kunai was above her head, quickly descending to the target that was Sasuke's arm. He blocked Sakura easily, pushing her into the wall roughly. He eyed her once more, his Sharingan coming out due purely to the hatred and anger that he was feeling; fighting Sakura had only made it worse. "Sakura, what do you have to say for this?"

Sakura closed her eyes, ignoring the pain that was being inflicted to her neck, to her body. "Sasuke," she said with emotions held back, "you are not ready to take on Itachi." He pushed her into the wall again, causing her to cough out some blood; she wouldn't show any weakness. She smiled at Sasuke, looking at him with the softest and most loving eyes ever. "You just aren't ready at this time, but that does not mean you will never be ready."

"What do you know?" spat Sasuke releasing her causing her to drop to the ground. He turned away from her. "I know I am not strong enough yet, but I will defeat him." He started to walk away from her.

Sakura was on the floor. Watching as Sasuke moved away from her. She was weak; the hits that Sasuke inflicted upon her were starting to affect her. She stood up, ignoring her groaning muscles and ran over to Sasuke. He noticed her, turning to face her just before she got to him. She grabbed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Sasuke, I want to help you."

It was sad. Sasuke was a sad child, because he was one who believed that he had no one around him. Sakura wanted to do something about that. "Get off of me now Sakura..." spoke Sasuke without hidden irritation.

Sakura held on even tighter. "I am not letting go!" She was trembling, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall, but she knew she could not cry. Sasuke would not take her seriously if she did. "I want to help you, Sasuke, I have always wanted to help you, but I did not know how to. I know I am not as strong as you would want in someone who claims to want to help, but I know that I am helping you by stopping you from fighting Itachi at this point. When you get stronger, you can go after him, but now, Sasuke, you can't... I will not let you."

Sasuke could only look in silence, at the woman hugging him; she was holding back her emotions so that her argument could be taken that much more seriously he could tell. He knew she cared about him, even more than he would care to admit. Sasuke's pride would get him killed, and Sakura tried to get him to understand that. Sasuke shook his head and Sakura felt his body loosen; it was not as tense as before.

Sasuke scoffed at her, not looking at her still. "And you will stop me how?"

By this point, Sakura was on the verge of crying, but the smirk in Sasuke's voice as he answered her got her to look at him skeptically. He _was_ smirking, like she had known, but it was mischievously playful...

"What do you mean? I will beat you way faster than even you can see it coming!" She was smiling now, a smile so wide Sasuke couldn't help but to indulge her fire.

"Is that so?" She nodded. Without a word Sasuke attacked her, literally holding nothing back. That first punch to Sakura would have been deadly, but she produced a clone just in time for it to be taken out instead.

Sakura ran out of the building, toward the forest that stood behind, using the trees and the foliage as cover so that she could start her next move. Now Sasuke was smiling. He followed the girl to the forest, and the real fight began.

Sakura touched the Uchiha boy's heart. Just one touch was needed to change the mindset of a young boy bent on destruction. Now he knows as he goes unto this new path, that there are people there to help him through all things.

-X-

A/N: So sorry about this chapter. Sasuke was a little hard for me to get into character and Sakura as well... truly this was just a hard chapter to write. Let me know what I can do to improve this chapter, and I will do my best to work on it. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello, so this is the last chapter... sadness... Onto the story!

I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Neji and TenTen

-X-

It was something that was as persistent and as factual as the rise of the sun, this vision that kept replaying itself in his mind, reminding him every day why he was who he was. He could only ever remember the one part. It was where his father had died for the sake of the branch, and it scarred him ever since. Neji sat up from his bed staring at the darkness in his room. There was no light, no moon, no stars... no anything, just like his existence. He was forced into a destiny that he did not quite want, a destiny where it was always him who was seen as lower... and no matter how much he could show himself to be better than those in the higher branch of the clan, he would always be the lowest creature that ever existed. Touching his hand to the tattoo that reminded him constantly of his position, he got up to train. That was the one thing he could continue to do... train, because even though he would never be anything better than the scum of the Hyuuga clan, he could continue to get better for himself if anything.

-O-

Neji arrived at the training grounds with darkness to spare. It was still really early in the morning and he knew that he should have had the luxury to be alone in the fields, but as he approached he noticed that he wasn't granted that favor. He walked to the kunoichi, not even bothering to hide his displeasure at his teammate for being here.

"What are you doing here Ten-Ten?" he asked walking up to her.

She smiled, but when she saw the boy's face she frowned. "What's wrong with you?" He didn't answer her question, but only demanded that she explain what she was doing here so early in the morning. The sun had only just began to rise, but they were still cloaked in the darkness that extended from the forest. "If it means anything to you, I was trying to perfect one of my newest moves. I am guessing you are here to train as well, would you like to train together?" Ten-Ten looked at Neji. He contemplated for a while before he nodded yes. He wasn't going to go easy on her. He needed to let out some steam.

Ten-Ten was not exactly the fighter that he wanted to fight, only because she was already so weak when it came to him. Shoot, he was better than everybody on his team, but as time went on, everyone else started to show more progress, and he knew that she worked hard to keep up with him and Lee. She trained hard because she wanted to be the best weapon's meister, not to show off her strength, but Neji still had to let her know that she had to get better in all areas. For some odd reason, he offered to train her, and they would train together, mainly so that she could get better practice with her weapons, never to actually fight. As Neji took on the customary Hyuuga stance, Ten-Ten was already thinking about how she was going to get her weapons out to defeat Neji. She knew he wasn't an easy opponent, but that never stopped her from trying to beat him, and she told him too.

"I am not going to give up Neji, one day I will beat you." This was the same thing she said in the past as they continued to get stronger together and she really wanted to test out her skills instead of spar for fun. Never had he made a reply other than a simple smile, but today, with that vision fresh on his mind, he could not help but to reply.

"You really think so huh?" She nodded and he scoffed. "Losers will always be losers, Ten-Ten. No amount of training can ever change the destiny that will befall you." She looked at him, another frown forming on her visage.

"Are you saying that I can never, no matter how hard I try, beat you?"

"Ten-Ten, I only want to spare you from hurt, but why should you try if it can never happen? I am a genius," he looked away from her, into the dark sky, whispering the next part, "and even I cannot defeat my destiny."

By the time Neji looked back up at his teammate she was angry, running towards him at full speed. She ended in front of him, him not at all fazed by her proximity. She attempted to pierce him with the metal weapon, but she was a clone (as Neji knew) and he turned to meet the real Ten-Ten falling from the sky with a barrage of kunai. He could have, if he wanted to, deflect all of the kunai with his rotation, the perfect 360 degree defense, but he felt like he needed to show her that she could not win even when he did not use his full power. He moved skillfully through the raining metal weapons. Ten-Ten, who was still up in the air did another jutsu and a new type of weapon formed. She drew from her scroll, weapons that were heavy and spiked, and every weapon fell to the ground with an explosion. Neji jumped from the disturbed ground, meeting the girl in the air. With one punch, she was on the ground. Her weapons fell next to her, causing a massive explosion about her. Neji, feeling sorry for the girl covered her before she could get seriously hurt.

"Don't you see that it is impossible to win?" Neji said as he stood up.

"Do not count me out just yet, Neji Hyuuga!" Ten-Ten pulled the string that she had gathered, connecting them to different weapons. As she moved out of the way, they came to Neji. "I spread these invisible string on the exploding weapons." Neji scoffed. This was nothing that his rotation would not subdue. Dust and dirt lined the air, but Neji could still see where Ten-Ten was. He grabbed her, dropping her to the ground.

"I told you Ten-Ten, you cannot beat me. You are a weaker, and will always be weak." Ten-Ten got up, Neji and she tried to punch him. He caught her fist.

"What is it with you?!"

Ten-Ten had always suspected Neji had a problem with people surpassing their limits, or destiny as he called it. She did not know what the details were, but the way Neji always said that Rock Lee could never amount to anything or the way he put her down as well, it seemed that it was personal. She looked into his eyes and she saw pain, mixed with anger. Ten-Ten took a step back from Neji. "I have gotten stronger since you first met me, Neji. Lee had gotten stronger as well... why can you not acknowledge that fact? Why can you not believe that people have more going for them then where they came from?"

This was the first time since she had known Neji, that she he had seen him lose his composure. "Why? This is why!" He said as he pulled off his headband, and showed her the mark that had cursed his branch for generations. Ten-Ten was confused. "This mark, it reminds me every day that I will never be better than what the clan sees me as; that I will never be able to be more than a vessel, a tool for the main branch of the Hyuugas..." Ten-Ten looked at him, stepping toward him, cautiously, in the process.

"But why? You determine what you do in your life Neji..." She grabbed his hands with both of hers, and looked in his eyes. "Even if you are bound by the shackles of the clan, you are still doing things that will affect your own fate. With whatever freedom you are given, be free to the best of your ability. Your place, your status, your life is not predetermined because every action changes a fate."

She took a deep breath and took a step away from him. The silence was a good sign. "Neji, I did not know what I wanted to do in my life, and I was terrible at everything, but then I found weapons. I had to train, and work hard to get to where I am, and I continually train because I know what I want. I want to be a great Kunoichi!" she yelled this, and Neji was taken aback. Ten-Ten had a smile on her face, running up to Neji again. "Do you understand, Mr. Genius?" she asked. He was so deep into her speech that he did not notice her hand pulling back, and coming forward into his stomach. She punched him, a bold move it was. The boy fell to the ground from the unexpected movement, and looked up at Ten-Ten who was now standing in front of him.

The Hyuuga was astounded; he had been distracted, he will give her that much. She waited for him to accept her extended hand. He grabbed onto her hand, and she help him up. As she did that, she pulled another bold move; she wrapped her arms around Neji, giving him a hug. "You can be more than what this curse seal makes you, shoot, you can be more than you yourself makes you. Always remember that your destiny is what you make it, Neji." The vision was gone from his mind as he thought of those final words.

The sun had its place high in the sky. Birds and other animals had begun to sing and come to life. Neji thought to himself as he saw a bird spread its wings and take on the world. He was not there yet; he was like a baby bird. He would one day be able to be free, but first he had to understand that he was free to first fly where his own minds would let him. He looked back at Ten-Ten, a smirk on his face. "Cheap shot. I guess it _would_ take something like that for someone like you to get me on the ground."

Ten-Ten stared at her fellow companion. She was pumped up now. There was none of the malice that she had felt earlier before. Ten-Ten looked up at him and was happy to see that there was no more pain. Now he wanted to test her. "I won't go easy on you either Neji! I still didn't get to show you my newest move..."

"You won't be able to beat me Ten-Ten..."

She pulled out her scroll and bit into her finger, smearing her blood on the length of the scroll. "Here we go!" she yelled, and Neji could only smile.

Although he was still thinking about his position in the clan, he knew he had a new mindset and that meant he had a new fate. Nothing was going to stop him from being what he wanted to be, or even better, who he wanted to be. Just one touch showed him that he was not what his circumstance was and that he was not to be a victim any longer.

-X-

A/N: Finally I finished this chapter! It took me a whole (insert number here) year(s) to complete. Actually, it was the NejiTen story that had me going crazy! I just could not find a plot that would give them justice, and even adding in this hug to the end was… *wipes sweat* some hard work. I, ended up with this, that I believe actually captures each of the characters personalities.

Let me know what you all think! Thanks!

Ronko45


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